The Marauder's Games
by ALsannan
Summary: The Marauder's Map sits in a desk drawer in Harry's office for a good three years before he can't take it anymore. This is his father's legacy. It was made to be used. Also…it's really cool. But who to give it to? It's not like he can just hand it over. There's a lesson to be learned here. He has a responsibility. Plus—this sounds like way more fun.
1. Chapter 1

"Hey kids. How's school going?" Harry Potter asked his assorted nieces and nephews as he entered the empty classroom where he'd asked them to meet him. He was a bit early but some of them were there already; James was lying flat across the teacher's desk at the front of the room with his feet propped up on a model of the universe. Beside him, Albus and Rose were flicking a piece of parchment back and forth while Roxanne kept score. Fred was sitting on the nearby window frame and, unnoticed by Albus, using his wand to guide the parchment through Rose's goal post every time she signaled him under the table.

They all looked up when he entered and, as in every other situation ever, James immediately started speaking before anyone else could get a word in edgewise.

"School's—"

"James, I already know how school is going for you." Harry cut in with his best attempt at a stern look. "Neville's letters paint a pretty clear picture. Between that and Binns..." he shook his head ruefully, "I must be the first parent to get a letter home from a _ghost._ "

"About that…" James started.

"I mean, just the amount of time it would have taken—"

"It wasn't my fault!" James protested.

"He can't hold a pen! He had to float around, find someone willing to write _a seven page long_ letter—"

"Well, he's always been a bit long-winded," Fred pointed out fairly.

"Seven _double-sided_ pages—"

"Father," James cut him off with a suddenly serious tone. Behind him, Rose snorted. "I fear we're veering off topic. I think I would be remiss in letting my reprehensible behavior distract you from the duty you have come here to dispense…"

"I grew up with your Aunt Hermione, James." Harry reminded his son, "Big words aren't going to distract me. Stop messing around in Binn's class or your mother and I are going to paper this school with howlers reciting every nickname your Grandma Molly has ever given you."

Harry tried his best not to laugh at the look of sheer terror on his son's face.

In the sudden silence (as James was, presumably, too paralyzed with terror to speak) Harry said, "but you are right. I did come here for another reason."

Just then the door to the classroom opened. Teddy Lupin strode in.

"Harry! Hi, what brings you here?" he questioned as he walked over to shake Harry's hand, ruffling the top of James hair as he passed. James stuck his tongue out behind Teddy's back.

"I was just getting to that—" Harry started but was cut off as the door to the classroom opened again.

"Hi Uncle Harry!" A cheerful voice called and all turned to see Victoire, followed closely by her younger siblings, Dominique and Louis. Both girls immediately gave Harry a hug. Louis offered him a stiff handshake, which he had to bend down to accept.

Victoire went to perch herself on top of the desk Teddy was sitting at, ruffling James hair on her way past him, eliciting an affronted "pssht!" Louis gave him a look of solidarity. Dominique giggled as she shoved Fred aside on the window ledge so she'd have room to sit.

"What are you up to?" Victoire asked Harry as everyone settled back to listen.

"I mean, not that I'm not happy to see you," she continued, "but this is kind of out of the norm." Suddenly, her face brightened, "Are you finally going to show us how to get into Honeydukes? Because Cress's birthday is coming up…"

"I don't think the birthday of one of your lemmings is at the top of Uncle Harry's priorities, Vee," Dominique mocked her sister. Teddy snickered and reached behind him for a high five, which Dominique returned just as Victoire opened her mouth to retort.

Harry raised a hand, and they all fell silent, though Victoire shot her sister a look.

"No Victoire, I didn't come to show you the way into Honeydukes. I came to give you a chance to earn it. I'm not going to show you the passage…but something else will."

The change in the room was immediate. Albus straightened up in his chair. James narrowed his eyes at his father, a mixture of intrigue and accusation playing across his face. A small smile grew on Louis's lips just as Teddy, who'd been balancing on the back legs of his chair, fell forward with a clatter.

"You don't mean…" Roxanne murmured with awe, her voice trailing off. All of them looked at their uncle with stunned wonder.

Then, Fred stood up and whooped.

"Finally!" He laughed, hurrying forward to clap James on the shoulder. "I told you he'd give it to us eventually James, I _told_ you."

And with that, they all suddenly burst forth into laughter and noise. Grins were exchanged, arguments immediately breaking out about who could do what and when, chairs scraping backward as everyone rushed around in excitement. Only Rose and James didn't moved.

It was awhile before the room was quiet enough to be heard in. The kids, having worn themselves out celebrating, all settled back in their chairs full of excitement. Only Rose stood up this time.

"What do you mean… _earn it_ , Uncle Harry?" She asked.

Her voice was quiet but it carried. The laughter stopped. The smiles faded, a little. Albus and Fred both gave her incredulous looks, but Rose's gaze never wavered from her uncle's face.

Harry smiled, a twinkle of excitement in his eye, "Very good, Rose. You really are your mother's daughter, you know."

"I know," Rose grinned at her uncle ruefully, "and that's how I can tell I'm not going to like what you have to say next."

"What are you talking about?" Albus burst out. "The Marauder's Map! We've all been talking about it since the first time we ever heard about Hogwarts! We've waited our whole lives for Dad to finally hand it over!"

"But he's _not_ about to hand it over," Rose told Albus patiently, before looking back at her uncle, "are you Uncle Harry?"

"No, Rose. I'm not going to hand it over." There was a collective groan before Harry continued…

"I'm going to give you a chance to win it."


	2. Chapter 2

"What are you talking about Harry?" Teddy asked slowly.

"Well Ted, adulthood is boring." Harry smiled at the mingled looks of surprise an incredulity on their faces. Oh, the young.

"Now, don't get me wrong, boring is vastly preferable to the life I had before—constantly fending off attempted murder and whatnot—but still: boring. And Ginny won't let me get a griffin, so I'm forced to go elsewhere for entertainment."

The kids blinked at him.

"Besides," there was a wistfulness in his voice when he said, "Getting up to a bit of mischief, getting caught out after hours, making a mess of things with your friends; that's what Hogwarts is _supposed_ to be like. I'd hate to think of my kids never getting to know this place the way I did."

"So give the map to me and Albus," James put in, "your kids."

Dominique threw a ball of parchment paper at James' head. Fred scoffed. Rose mumbled, "traitor."

"It's not that easy James. You and Albus aren't the only people with a claim to the map. For one thing, Ted's father Remus was one of the makers."

Teddy, who had been paying close attention to Harry, glanced down, trying to hide his face as he felt the sympathetic stares.

Harry moved on quickly, "not to mention it was your Uncle George…and Fred…who found the map and gave it to me. Maybe George's kids should have it."

Fred and Roxanne perked up.

"Besides that," Harry continued, "All of you have gotten up to a fair amount of mischief on your own." A few of the cousins exchanged half guilty half satisfied smirks with one another. "I have no doubt that each and every person sitting in this room could do some considerable damage with this map in their hands." Several of them smirked.

Harry coughed, "I mean, not damage. Do not do any damage."

Nine identically evil grins greeted him. Somehow, they all seemed to have inherited some sort of Weasley-twin-plotting-face. Even Teddy.

"Obviously, as an adult and a parent I don't sanction any of you breaking any school rules. Or doing anything out of bounds."

"Except you totally do," James smirked.

"Well. I didn't _say_ so." Harry was careful to make this distinction, just in case this conversation was some day repeated word for word to Ginny or Hermione.

"But you do."

"My point is," Harry continued, "Everyone here deserves a shot at the map. It wasn't meant to sit in a drawer. We may not all _technically_ be Weasley's or Marauder's but we are all the Magical Mischief-Makers the Marauder's were thinking about when they made this map and…" he looked around at them, listening to him intently, and finished "…and we are all family."

It was a touching moment. Harry thought all of the kids looked particularly touched. In fact, he thought he was probably their favorite uncle after this. Not that that was why he'd come up with it, of course.

"Er, Uncle Harry?"

The touching moment was broken by Fred.

"Uh," his nephew started, "that's really cool and all, but…you're down a couple of Weasleys."

Harry, who had been hoping no one would notice this, mumbled, "right. About that…"

"Lucy's in charms right now, where I'm supposed to be. I could go run and grab her," Victoire offered brightly.

"Well that's not…"

"Does anyone know what Molly has this period?" Roxanne asked.

"Hm, Runes I think?"

"Ugh. Can we tell her later?" Dominique griped. "That's at the top of north tower."

"I actually think it would be better…"

"Frankly, I can't be arsed."

"She is your cousin, James Potter!" Victoire scolded.

"I don't see you volunteering!"

Sensing things were rapidly getting beyond his control, Harry spoke over both of them. "Now just hang. on. one. minute!"

They stared.

Now that he'd gotten all of their attention, Harry found himself somewhat less eager to speak.

"Well…I just. I mean obviously it isn't…special treatment…all involved, just…you know, a certain disapproval…wouldn't want to get into trouble with…I mean he's just so _strict_ …."

No one said anything. They looked at each other.

Teddy started to laugh.

"What?" Albus reached over and poked his shoulder as Teddy exchanged a knowing look with Victoire. Understanding passed over her face.

"Oh!" Rose cried as she figured it out. She giggled into her hand.

"What is it?" Albus asked her, "I don't get it!"

"Don't worry Uncle Harry," Victoire said after she'd stopped laughing, "we won't tell Uncle Percy on you."

Harry grimaced at her as they all exchanged amused looks.

"Lucy wouldn't either," Fred said.

"Yeah," Teddy agreed, "but…maybe we should leave Molly out of this one."

"Not that we don't trust her—"

"I don't trust her." Victoire cut Dominique off.

" _She is your cousin Victoire Weasley!_ " James mocked, in a high-pitched imitation of Victoire's voice. She narrowed her eyes.

"Molly's the one who told Aunt Ginny where your Cornish pixies were."

"Let's not tell Molly."

"…You were keeping Cornish pixies?" Harry raised an eyebrow.

"Victoire was helping!"

"Isn't this all in the past?" She smiled her most charming smile. Teddy sat up a little straighter in his chair. Harry suspected her diluted Veela powers were getting a workout.

"So _that's_ where the dust came from," Teddy muttered, sort of dreamily. Harry looked at him. Victoire elbowed him. Teddy quickly shut his mouth.

"Uncle Harry, you're a busy man aren't you?" She laughed, a little nervously, "You don't want to be wasting your time with these sort of childish antics…"

"Yeah, don't get me wrong, it's fun to watch Victoire squirm," Fred said. She made a rude hand gesture at him. He grinned, continuing, "but I'd rather hear about how I'm going to win the map."

"Right. Good man, Fred. Down to business. What I'm proposing is…sort of a tournament. For those of you who want to participate, and you certainly don't have to, but for anyone who wants to win I'll be setting challenges for you. Now, completing the challenges won't be enough…we're going to go on a points system with points awarded for ingenuity, imagination, daring, cleverness, and humor. Remember, this is supposed to be fun. I want to see you using all your considerable abilities to complete these challenges. Those with the lowest points will be eliminated, until only the winner is left. You'll all have a chance…"

"You have got to be kidding me." James burst out suddenly, "I have been asking, begging, using every persuasion I learned from you, mom, Uncle Ron, Aunt Hermione and Aunt Fleur _combined_ …This map is my birthright! It's in my blood!"

Harry was quite surprised at this outburst in his son, but couldn't help but note the irony. "Right. I fought a whole war to eliminate that kind of thinking about blood and birthright." He paused, remembering Binns, "Maybe if you did your History of Magic homework, you would know that."

"Maybe I would know more History of Magic if you'd let me stay in the kitchen after Uncle George has more than two glasses of firewhiskey"

"What type of persuasion did my mum teach you?" Louis interrupted.

James blanched.

"I—What?…Listen, that's not what's at issue here so…"

"Was it the hair flip?" Victoire grinned at him from across the room "She taught me that one when I turned thirteen too." James glared.

"Look can we just…"

"Was it the soft consonants thing?" Dominique spoke over him, an evil glint in her eye "I mean we do that because we speak French, but I suppose it does add a certain _purrrrr_ to your voice…"

"I think we should get back on topic…" James said, a little desperately.

"Makeup tips?" Louis joined in eagerly, looking rather proud of himself.

"Did she teach you how to shimmy your hips?" Dominique asked, catching Victoire's eye.

Victoire slipped off the desk and headed towards James with a vicious glee glinting in her eye, saying, "Because let me tell you, you've got to be careful with that one, you can dislocate something if you're not doing it right…"

She was on the point of demonstrating when James appealed to his father, "Dad you want to help me out here"

Harry looked at his son being pulled halfway out of his seat by his merciless cousin.

"I don't know." Harry told him. You might have to persuade me."

At the look of pure loathing this response garnered Harry said, "Alright, alright, James is right." Out of the corner of his eye he saw Dominique stop, halfway risen out of her chair. "Back to the topic at hand."

"Yeah, I was right." James said, looking pleased with himself and throwing a glance to Victoire.

"Oooh, was that your coy look?" she added waspishly as she took a seat again, but quieted as Harry cast a glance at her.

"Alright, back to the map," Rose called eagerly. "How exactly do we play this game? What are the rules?"

Harry paused, momentarily stumped. He hadn't actually gotten that far, but now seemed to be the wrong time to tell them that.

"Right. Well. Obviously, there are rules."

James smirked at him.

"First," Harry invented wildly, "this should go without saying, no hurting anyone. I know all of you can manage that. Second, you can't…totally ignore school rules."

He hadn't actually intended to say that, but now he definitely couldn't take it back.

"I realize some of these might require…creative ways to avoid the teachers, but if I hear about any of you doing something too far out of line or getting any punishment more serious than a detention you'll be automatically disqualified."

"So basically, don't get caught." James said. Harry ignored him.

"Three, I don't want any cheating. But that said…there is a certain degree of strategy here. Part of playing is playing the other players, but I want you to remember that this is supposed to be fun. If you all start getting into serious fights, I'll call the whole thing off. Are we clear?"

There was a general murmur of agreement and nodding of heads from everyone but Teddy.

"What about teams?" he asked.

Harry paused. He took a brief moment to contemplate the terror of his little nieces and nephews banding together to form some sort of unholy alliance of noise and chaos, barreling through the halls of the school.

"Yes." He smiled. "Teams are acceptable. On a task by task basis."

"So," started Fred as Harry felt the air in the room start to shift, the excitement becoming palpable as the reality of the situation sunk in, "when do we start?"

"Wait for my owl." He told them. "I'll give you the details of your first mission. But we start right now. As of this moment."

He grinned around at them all, "Let the games begin."


End file.
